Perfect Cupid's Bow
by Diswrit
Summary: Castiel is persuaded by a Cherubim to leave his post and take a short trip to Earth to assist in the making of a match. One-shot companion to Three Knives, set between chapters 7 and 8.


**New Mexico**

** 1992**

* * *

Alice Smith sat up in her hotel bed. The television cast the dark room with harsh blue light that made her look like a gloomy pixie. She was surfing the channels with the volume turned down to ten, but it still wasn't low enough. In the other bed where Sam and Dean Winchester were struggling to stay as far apart from each other as possible, Dean lifted his head grouchily.

"Four hours, Alice," he grumbled. "That's all I'm asking for!"

"Get some ear plugs!" Alice shot back.

Sam snored more loudly while Dean glared daggers at Alice.

"Fine, you big baby," Alice groaned. She hit the mute button and turned on the captions.

Just then, she heard a familiar whooshing noise, like wind over enormous feathers. She froze in momentary terror, before glancing furtively around the room. All she saw was Dean tossing and turning in the bed across from hers.

Slowly, she forced herself to relax. If there were angels in the room with her, she was sure they would have announced themselves to her, none too politely at that. She must have mistaken the rustle of sheets for the flutter of wings. She went back to methodically switching through channels.

Unbeknownst to the three humans, there were indeed two Angels present in the room, newly arrived.

"I see nothing of interest here, Corinthus," the first Angel commented to the second.

"Look closely," Corinthus instructed. "And remember, you have already sworn me your secrecy, Castiel."

"Conditionally," Castiel reminded his comrade. "I will not put the affairs of the Cherubim over those of my garrison."

"Could you be any more of a stick in the mud?" Corinthus asked, rolling the eyes of the flower deliver girl he was possessing. Castiel was wearing a banker from Amsterdam, but only for the evening. It had been a long time since he had been to Earth, and he was only here now at the request of the Cupid at his side. He was flying under the grace of the Cherubim, without the permission or knowledge of his commander or fellow soldiers. Corinthus had requested his assistance and assured him that no one else would know, or needed to know of their excursion.

"Tell me what you require my assistance with so I can return to my post," Castiel ordered his companion.

"See the girl?"

"Yes."

"I'm here to mark her."

Castiel squinted at the child suspiciously.

"Isn't she a little old to be mating?" he asked dubiously.

"This isn't the dark age anymore, brother!" Corinthus exclaimed. "If anything, she's a little young by the standards of the day."

"Forgive my ignorance. I've been a little busy to pay attention to the evolution of human mating rituals," Castiel said bitingly.

"It's not important. Fate is at work here," Corinthus said excitedly. "Do you see the man?"

Castiel craned his neck to inspect the contents of the second bed.

"The large one?"

"No, the smaller one."

"What about him?"

Corinthus produced a stone tablet seemingly from nowhere and held it up for Castiel to see.

"He and the girl are on one another's lists."

"Ah, yes. The itinerary handed down by Heaven to your order," Castiel realized, taking the tablet from Corinthus. "A list of optimal pairings for every one of your marks, if I'm not mistaken."

"You are not."

"I still do not not understand what role I could possibly have to play in this..."

Castiel trailed off as his eyes stopped on one of the names carved into Dean Winchester's pairing list.

"Alice Smith?" he read aloud in disbelief. "But she is-"

"On the bad side of some of our superiors," Corinthus confirmed.

"That is putting it mildly, brother," Castiel all but growled. "She had been labeled a blasphemer. Heaven wants her dead."

Castiel fixed his gaze on Alice, still watching television obliviously. His expression was unreadable, but his eyes blazed with the seeds of righteous wrath.

"Corinthus, is that her?" he asked.

"It is."

"I hope the reason you brought me here was to smite her from the face of this-"

"Oh, Castiel, please!" Corinthus whined. "You mustn't!"

"Our orders-"

"Whose orders?"

"Well..."

"The order to kill this girl was not given to you," Corinthus pointed out. "Unless I am mistaken?"

"You are not," Castiel admitted grudgingly. "But you have put me in a dangerously precarious position by bringing me here. If anyone finds out-"

"They won't! Even if they did, I have my orders as well, brother!" Corinthus protested. "Does my mission account for nothing?"

"There are priorities. Protocols to be followed."

"And right now, there's no one here to tell us what those priorities are," Corinthus pointed out. "Please, Castiel, I just need a tiny favor from you. I act with the full support of the Cherubim order."

Castiel kept his derisive thoughts about the order of Cupid to himself.

"Very well Corinthus," he scowled. "Quickly then, what it is you require of me?"

"I've already marked the heart of the man," Corinthus said at once, clearly relieved at Castiel's decision. "But there's a small problem with the girl. Look at her ribs."

Castiel did as he was bid, and realized Corinthus' predicament.

"She has been warded against Heavenly influence."

"The sigils are just strong enough to shield her heart from my touch. I do not have the power to break the wards, let alone restore them once I have left my mark. But you, Castiel... you are a Dominion. You have the power to help me."

"Why these two?" Castiel demanded, handing the tablet back to Corinthus. "There are six more names here. Dean Winchester could be destined to carry on his bloodline with any of these women."

"The names are only a hint," Corinthus sighed, as if explaining simple math to a child. "What really makes a match is Fate. These two have crossed paths against all odds. Their meeting is no coincidence. It is Kismet. It has been ordained and arranged by powers far higher than you and I. My job is merely to ensure that the will of that higher power is carried out to the letter. That is your purpose as well, brother. It is the singular purpose of all Heavenly creatures, from the lowest Angel to the highest Seraphim."

Corinthus delivered this speech so passionately that his voice cracked in a few places and his eyes teared up. The heartfelt effect of his devotion was lessened only slightly by the fact that, in the background, Alice had ever so slowly been turning up the volume on the television, watching Dean for any sign that it was disturbing him again.

Castiel sighed tremendously.

"Very well, brother."

He approached Alice and with a wave of his hand, erased a section of the glyphs carved into her rib cage.

Alice grunted and doubled over in pain, dropping her remote as her hands flew to her ribs. The TV stopped on a cosmetics commercial.

"_... all new flawless complexions line guarantees total coverage..._"

"Do it," Castiel instructed.

Corinthus stepped forward and reached for Alice's heart as she glanced around in confusion. The pain in her chest had vanished, and she was searching for the remote in her bedding. Castiel watched as Corinthus produced a small brand, similar in shape to an arrow, and pressed it to the young girl's heart. Unlike what Castiel had done, the mark of Cupid caused Alice no pain. It did, however, capture her full attention. She stopped her search for the remote and stared across the room at Dean's sleeping form like she was seeing him for the first time.

"... _only precision felt tip of it's kind. Never again struggle to draw your perfect cupid's bow with this revolutionary..."_

She snapped out of her trance quickly, and resumed her search for the remote.

"Alice!" Dean snapped drowsily from the other bed.

"Oh come off it!" she snapped back, finally finding the remote and turning the TV off for good. "There! Is that what you want?"

"Yes. Thank you."

Dean was asleep again as soon as the words left his mouth.

"You're welcome," Alice replied softly.

She felt one more stab of quick, burning pain in her chest. She had no way of knowing that it was Castiel restoring the glyphs of protection that Anna had gifted her two years ago.

"It is done," Castiel said.

"Thank you brother," Corinthus sighed. "Is it not a thing of great beauty?"

Castiel regarded the hearts of Alice Smith and Dean Winchester, glowing with warm golden light that emanated from the marks Corinthus had branded them with. They yearned for one another now, and always would. No action or distance could quell the desire that had been written into the fabric of their beings this night.

"I suppose," Castiel admitted. "If not quite dangerous."

"Cynic," Corinthus accused playfully. "Love is only dangerous in the wrong hands."

He held his hands up.

"You see these? They are truly the perfect Cupid's bow."

"You stole that line from a lipstick commercial."

"Sue me."

The Angels took their leave of Earth quietly, with only the softest brush of feather against feather to mark their passage.


End file.
